


Into the Hand of a Woman I

by Daegaer



Series: Into the Hand of a Woman [1]
Category: Tanakh
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, Sisera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-19
Updated: 2013-02-19
Packaged: 2017-11-29 20:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/691239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Deborah judged Israel, Jabin of Hazor sent his chariots against the Israelites, seeking an easy victory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into the Hand of a Woman I

**Author's Note:**

  * For [opalmatrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/gifts).



In the days when the princes of Canaan begged the aid of the king of Egypt against the habiru, Yarikh-ahavah the sister of Jabin king of Hazor sent from her house and recalled to her brother the love he had borne for her husband, a mighty man of his chariot forces and the general of all his hosts. 

“Before his death, did not Sisera my husband say, ‘I am comforted in the hour of my death that my son shall serve my lord the king even as I have done’?” she said. “Now, I pray, let my son do service for you as did his father.”

And Jabin's heart remembered his friend Sisera and how their love had caused him to give him his own sister in marriage, that Jabin's sons and Sisera's sons should be brothers. And so, as the summer days when kings go forth to war drew near, Jabin spoke in the hearing of the men of his council.

"It is in my heart to give command of the chariots this season to Sisera's son, who also bears that name."

The men of the council looked at each other, thinking that the Sisera who had died was a mighty man of war, but his son was an untried youth. They thought also of his mother, Jabin's favourite sister, and how there would be many experienced officers in the chariot host to curb a young man's foolishness. Moreover, the chosen enemy, the Hebrews were weak and had no king, listening rather to the word of a woman who judged them. All men were young at one time, the advisors thought, surely Sisera would be a mighty man once schooled in leading the hosts against such an easy foe.

And so it was that Yarikh-ahavah smiled upon her son as he came to bid her farewell, her heart proud that he should be as famous a war leader as his father.

"When you have conquered the Hebrews, my son," she said, "do not be meek in seeking gain. Take for yourself fine cloths, and a girl or two for your household."

"All the finery I win shall be for you, my mother," Sisera said, his smile as broad as a child who gives his mother a necklet made clumsily from coloured potsherds. "The girls I take will be your slaves."

"Find a beautiful one for yourself, my son," she said, "to bear you children to fill up the house." She grasped his hand then, and said the words she had told herself she would not. "Do not die, come back to me." With more composure she blessed him, saying, "May the Lord Hadad and all the hosts of heaven fight alongside you."

"Do not fear," Sisera said. "Do we not fight the Hebrews? What are they, a people without a king? Have you not heard, my mother, their chiefmost leader is now a woman? What host can such a people muster?"

And so he left her, and Yarikh-ahavah wept a little when she was alone, for her little son who had thought her all-powerful was gone, and now a man was in his place.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The image for this day is _Jael and Sisera_ , by Artemisia Gentilischi, taken from www.artemisia-gentileschi.com
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years._
> 
>  
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> _At that time Deborah, a prophet, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel._
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> \---Judges 4
> 
>  
> 
> The [habiru](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habiru), a group complained about by several Canaanite rulers in letters to Egypt, are sometimes linked to the word 'Hebrew' but they seem to be a different group.
> 
> I have given Sisera's mother a name referring to the Canaanite deity of the moon, [Yarikh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarikh).


End file.
